Normal Chaos
by Lee Davies
Summary: When Elizabeth is having a Murphy's Law kind of day, she finds a small bit of happiness with Radek.


_This little thing was written for the LJ Weir/Zelenka Thing-a-thon. Hope you enjoy it!_

Elizabeth Weir rubbed her temples wearily and heaved a heavy sigh. Today had truly been what McKay liked to call a "Murphy's Law Day", in which just about everything that could go wrong had.

First, there were the failed negotiations with the Ha'nai (she STILL wanted to kill Sheppard for that), then one of the jumpers had decided to malfunction. She'd be lucky if she could convince Carson Beckett to get within 20 feet of 1 in the next 60 years! Of course, the highlight of the day so far had been the lovely staff meeting with the 2 hour long argument between Kavanaugh and Rodney. Teyla had missed this delight because she was on the mainland, observing some kind of Athosian festival. She'd taken Carson with her, much to the chagrin of one Colonel John Sheppard. Elizabeth couldn't swear to it, but she was pretty sure that Halling had referred to it as a "fertility ritual".

Supressing the urge to laugh, she took a look at the computer in front of her and thought about all the reports that she had to write. Grimacing, she began to type. Provided that nothing else went wrong today, she'd be lucky to get out of her office before dinner.

Her luck however, did not hold out. Looking up as she was trying to think how she wanted to phrase something, sge saw an enraged Kavanaugh coming up the stairs with one hand over his left eye, Reacting purely on instinct, she raced out onto the balcony and went as far to the left as she could so he wouldn't be able to see where she was.

After waiting for the footsteps to fade away, she breathed in and out deeply, rising slowly to her feet. A slight smile crept over her face at outsmarting Kavanaugh for the time being, but it quickly vanished when she realized that the door wasn't opening.

"Perfect. The city is against me." she groaned.

She'd been sitting there against the wall for some time when she heard softer footsteps coming toward her. The door opened, revelaing Dr. Radek Zelenka.

"Radek! Don't come..." she began.

The door closed behind him.

"Outside." Elizabeth finished weakly.

Whirling around, Radek pushed and pulled on the door only to find that it wouldn't budge.

"It's won't open." he said, staring at the door with a look on consternation on his face.

"So I noticed." she replied wryly.

He glanced over at her with a slight smile on his face and Elizabeth was surprised at the effect he was having on her,

"Today is quite a Murphy Day, no?" Radek queried as he took a seat beside her.

"You have NO idea..." she groaned.

Radek raised an enquiring eyebrow at her, causing her to tell him all of her woes for the day. Once she got to the 2 hour staff meeting, Zelenka let out a low chuckle.

"Ah yes...such a lovely meeting-with an even nicer fallout afterwards." he said with a snort.

Elizabeth remembered seeing Kavanaugh with a hand over his eye. "What happened?" she aske curiously.

Radek grinned at her, his blue eyes dancing mischeviously behind his glasses. "We got back to the lad after the meeting where they continued to argue like old women. Rodney told Calvin to shut his mouth or he would do it for him and Calvin mad big mistake of telling Rodney that he did not have guts to do it. Being at the end of his rope, Rodney punched Calvin."

Weir's eyes widened. "He did?"

"Yes, but his aim is terrible." Radek laughed. "He hit Calvin in the eye and instead of shutting him up, it only made Ponytail Boy squawk even louder!"

"Radek!" Elizabeth protested, smacking him lightly on the arm.

He quickly clapped his hand over her's trapping it on his right forearm.

"Now I have captured you." he said, sounding quite pleased with himself.

She couldn't help but laugh at this absurd side of him and Radek gave her a mock scowl. "You are mocking me." he pouted, sticking out his bottom lip as far as he could.

"Big baby." she teased, shoving him over and extracting her hand. They sat in companionable silence, watching the sun slide down over the horizon of water.

"Wow..." she commented.

"Is very beautiful tonight." Radek replied softly.

Elizabeth drew her knees up to her chest and sighed. Radek looked at her, inquiry written on his face.

Answering his unspoken question, she spoke. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm going to see another sunset or make it through another day..." She exhaled heavily. "Everyone here depends on me to get them through when I don't even know what's going to be facing me tomorrow..."

Radek placed a gentle arm around her and she laid her head his shoulder, taking quiet refuge in his embrace.

"Elizabeth, no one knows what is to come...in this we are all in the same boat, so to speak."

Reaching out with his other hand, he tipped her chin up so she was looking directly into his brilliant blue-grey eyes. His gaze was steady and sure as he said, "What we do have in the long run is hope. The waters around us can be dark and stormy and no sun coming out to shine, but as long as we still stand together and keep but a small flame of hope alive, we will be fine."

He looked out at the vast ocean stretching out as far as the eye could see in front of him. "Just as the sun sets, it also rises. Things always look worse in the dark times, but even those cannot last forever."

Elizabeth studied his face in the last bit of light that remained as the sun slid down to sleep and twilight settled in.

"What?" he asked, more than slightly puzzled.

"When did you get yo be so wise?" she mused out loud.

He chuckled. "Life has many lessons to teach us if we keep our eyes open and see them." Radek replied simply.

The lapsed into another comfortable silence, both of them simply enjoying the other's company. Everything was peaceful until both of them could clearly hear a horrified John Sheppard shouting, "You and Carson are WHAT?

The door opened and Rodney McKay stuck his head out. He was somewhat surprised to see ELizabeth Weir being held by Radek Zelenka, but much to their mutual relief, he chose not to comment on it.

"I hate to break this tender moment up, but apperently Teyla and Carson got married in some kind of Athosian ritual and Sheppard is in here freaking out." Rodney said with great glee.

Radek helped her to her feet and Elizabeth sighed. "Back to real life again, I suppose..."

He smiled and brushed a quick, gentle kiss across her lips. "Life is not so bad, no?"

She allowed her hand to find his and they moved inside. "Not so bad at all." she replied.

As Carson ran past with John in hot pusuit and Teyla on his heels, Elizabeth glanced at Radek and found his waiting eyes urging her on.

Taking an added measure of strength from that, she called out, "John! Stop acting like a wuss and PLEASE don't kill our doctor!"

As everyone else around them started laughing, she could hear Radek's low chuckled from beside her and smiled to herself. Things on Atlantis were back to their state of absolutely normal chaos!


End file.
